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Virtual event series begins with conversation on resilience and youth homelessness

Jesse Thistle

Making the Shift (MtS), a youth homelessness social innovation lab co-led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University, will host the first event in its Virtual Event Series on July 20 with a conversation featuring Jesse Thistle. The live talk will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Zoom.

Thistle, a bestselling author in Canada, an assistant professor at York and a Métis scholar with lived experience of youth homelessness, will be joined by York Professor Stephen Gaetz, CEO of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and scientific director of MtS, and Jayne Malenfant, a PhD candidate at McGill University and co-founder of the MtS Scholars with Lived Experience Network.

Thistle will share his journey of resilience while navigating homelessness as an Indigenous youth, how it informed his work as a scholar and national bestselling author, and his process of co-developing the definition of Indigenous homelessness in Canada.

This event is the first of a conversation series hosted by MtS that will highlight top thinkers and practitioners around preventing and ending youth homelessness. MtS is a federally funded Networks of Centres of Excellence with the goal of transforming how youth homelessness is addressed in Canada, from managing the crisis to a focus on prevention and housing stabilization.

As space is limited to 100 attendees with high turnout expected, those interested in participating in the event can secure their spots by registering in advance at https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DpB4x3NsTpGq2Wi3esnW3Q.

Following the event, a recording of the talk will be shared on social media and through the MtS newsletter.

Updates on this event and upcoming talks, including details on future speakers and event dates, can be found by following the #MtSinconvo hashtag and @homelesshub on Facebook and Twitter.